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ReShade Injector - SweetFX in OpenGL games


norrin

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I can't take any credit for this but while surfing the net late last night I finally found an injector that works with OpenGL games like the Combat Mission Series - its called ReShade and its available from here: http://reshade.me/

 

Just scroll to the bottom of the page and download ReShade + SweetFX.

 

It seems easy to use and once you've initialised ReShade to work with the game.exe it creates a SweetFX folder in your game directory. In this folder you'll find 2 files: ReShade_settings.txt and SweetFX_settings.txt.

 

ReShade_settings.txt - allows you to turn the injector statistics that will appear in game by default on and off, it also allows you to set keys to load the SweetFX shaders and disable them (Scroll Lock key by default).

SweetFX_settings.txt - works like it normally does and it allows you to specify which SweetFX shaders and effects you want to use and to set their parameters.

 

The great thing about this is you can alt-Tab out of the game and change your SweetFX settings and then alt-Tab back in to your hearts content to see how your changes effect the graphics in game.

 

I can confirm that this works with the latest version of CMBN, which uses the v3.00 engin and also CMSF.

 

Here are some quick and dirty screenshots of SweetFX working in game using CMSF (sorry this is all I had on my PC at work) to give you some idea of the kind of shaders etc you can add..

 

post-73293-0-12010000-1423613294_thumb.j

 

Note: Please forgive me if this is old news and feel free to delete this thread if it is but I searched the forums and could not find any reference to ReShade.

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That's pretty funny you brought this up, I've been using GEM for Rome II and was wondering the other day whether something like it would work in CM.

 

 

 

Mord.

Edited by Mord
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Yeah, GEM is easisr 'cause it has an actual dashboard to toggle stuff on and off. I tried a SweetFX for Shogun II, I think it was, and it was a PIA having to edit script code to change settings, which I am assuming that's what this does..

 

 

Mord.

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There's really very little to no coding required. The only thing you have to do is change some numbers in a couple of text files (ReShade_settings.txt and SweetFX_settings.txt).

 

The most important settings are in the SweetFX_settings.txt. Open this file in a text editor such as Notepad++ then to enable an effect you just add a 1 in the choose effects section of this file and to disable it you just change it to a zero as shown in the following image. sweetFX_effects.jpg

Underneath this section in the SweetFX_settings.txt are the settings for altering the strength of the various effects. Once again its just a matter of changing some numbers.

 

I find the effects you add is really a matter of personal choice and the best way to learn how they work is by trial and error. There's often a short explanation in the text file that explains what altering the values will do and you'll find that after playing around with SweetFX for a little while you'll get a good idea of what the different effects add and how to configure them.

 

Due to the way its set up you can load a mission in game and then alt-Tab back to SweetFX_settings.txt change some values , save the text file and then alt_tab back to the game and the injector will automatically update the game with the new graphics settings.

 

Therefore, if you run into problems, for instance changing a setting in the text file and after Alt-tabbing back into your game the screen turns white (i.e. too much bloom or HDR), you can always switch the injected effects off by pressing the scroll-lock key on your keyboard (default key for switching the effects on and off in game). You can then alt-Tab back to the settings file and change the setting back to its original value or try another number. 

 

If you really need a guide to using ReShade/SweetFX in the Combat Mission games I can probably write something up and post it here - so please let me know.

 

Anyway, here's a picture of CMBS I took this morning with SweetFX enabled and disabled. I'm really only using SweetFX to add anti-aliasing, a touch of bloom, to sharpen the graphics using Luma-sharpen and to add a little HDR. Hopefully, you should be able to see the anti-aliasing at least especially along the tank's main gun.comparison2.jpgHere's the image from my original post, you can now view it with out logging in, showing a range of SweetFX effects in Combat Mission Shock Force.SummaryOfSweetFX_merged_text.jpg

Edited by norrin
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edit - ha! ninja'd by a wall of text above ;)

 

If it's sweetFX then it ain't that hard.  You open the settings text file and either set 0 or 1 to turn things on/off and then go back to the game and hit the reload shaders key.

 

If you want to mess around this the actual settings for the shaders then yeah that can get involved but it's still just editing the same text file.

 

SweetFX adds a very handy screenshot key as well by the way.

 

 

 

-F

Edited by Fenris
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Pretty cool, didn't know there was an injector for opengl out there.

 

Does have all the pieces for some atmospheric night vision battles.

 

There seems to be a better shader pack out there called MasterEffect, which does bloom the right way (useful for nvg) and does already have support for depth buffer so it comes with DOF and such. 

 

If you don't want the bottom bar effected, you can hijack the split screen and have it not effect the bottom instead. 

 

http://reshade.me/forum/shaderpack-mastereffect/161-mastereffect-reborn-official-thread

post-60181-0-28026200-1423724791_thumb.j

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This is nice.  I have now stopped using the game's Anti Aliasing and am using SMAA via the injector instead.  Am also using (after testing all effects) HDR, Bloom, Luma Sharpen and Vibrance.  I'll post some screenies tonight, but essentially this combination seems to add a lot more depth to scenes.  I left all the shaders on their default settings.  I particularly like how easy it is to test changes.

 

For those who like the Alt M movie mode, you can use the SMAA in this injector to get your Anti Aliasing back.

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Hi,

This looks great.. thanks to norrin :).

Quick question.. I am not natural at this.. just mechanically do as I am told.

In the second half of the Sweet text file there all the settings for saturation and much more.

Which would be the best to use to adjust Saturation and Brightness in the way they are changed by adjustment of the individual files in the standard graphics editors?

Sorry to ask.. but there are quite a few that may do the job.. should really just slow test them all.. ;) but thought it would just ask first.

Thanks again,

All the best,

Kip.

Edited by kipanderson
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Kip,

 

In your testing of this shader mod, how much degradation of frame rate did you experience? Have you tried SweetFX with CMBS with HDR enabled? I have an older GeForce 650GTX card, though in CMBS with all details set to high, I can still get 60+ FPS. I'm afraid that this mod will turn my CMBS experience into a slide show.

 

Thanks in advance.

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Mr. Yubby,

 

Yup... my frame rate is very low, 8 – 12. That is using the ultimate test, all game options to max quality and rushing at ground level over a very big map. Cursor pressed to the top edge of the screen and racing forward feet from the ground.

 

However, I too have an old system, GeForce GTS 240 from near five years ago.

 

All the best,

Kip.

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Guys, I should have said my video card is a Geforce GTX680, not 650. It's still very capable for vintage 2010 hardware.

 

Thanks for the feedback, Kip. I had assumed the performance penalty would be similar to what you describe. I tried SweetFX with the GTR2 racing sim and got similar results, it was great for screenshots, but not much fun to play, reduced the framerate from 80+ fps to about 24 fps.

 

Mark G.

Edited by Mr. Yubby
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